Chiharu Kamida, Hiraku Suda, and Gergo Palfalvi (graduate student in SOKENDAI [The Graduate University for Advanced Studies]) with advices of Assist. Prof. Yosuke Tamada. Collaboration work with Dr. Kenji Fukushima in Colorado Univ., Prof. Kunihiko Ueda in Kanazawa Univ., and Prof. Yoshikazu Hoshi.

Tentacles of sundew move to trap small animals and secrete digestive enzymes. As well as the movement and secreting ability, the larger size than hairs of other plants, casparian stripe, and xylem tissue are special in the tentacles. The venus fly trap Dionaea muscipula is sister to the genus Drosera, although their trap morphology is different. To investigate the origin and evolution of tentacles as well as the homology between traps of Drosera and Dionaea, we sequenced a genome of diploid Droseara spatulata native in New Zealand and compare transcriptomes between two species.
We also succeeded to transform Drosera spatulata and graduate students who are interested in investigating the genes involved in the evolution of Drosera carnivoty are welcome.

1. Development of carnivorous pitcher leaves of Sarracenia purpurea
2. Evolution of digestive enzymes
3. Molecular Mechanisms of Memory of Dionaea muscipula leaves
   (link to "Mechanisms and evolution of plant movement")
4. Molecular mechanisms of plasticity in Cephalotus follicularis
5. Genome analysis of Drosera spatulata and development and evolution of tentacles, and homology between Drosera and Dionaea traps.
6. Development and evolution of Nepenthes pitcher leaves